Justice For Brittany Kidd-Stergis, Black Transgender Ohio Woman

Delshawn Carroll, 20, was recently charged with the murder of Brittany Kidd-Stergis, a 22-year-old Black transgender woman in Ohio. He was sentenced to 18 years to life.

On December 6, 2013, Sergis was shot and killed as she sat in her car outside Cleveland public housing. Police found Stergis dead, with a gunshot wound to the head, about 2:30 a.m.

The motive for the shooting remains unclear, but prosecutors said Carroll and Stergis had a past together. Carroll initially denied being with Stergis the night of her death. Investigators found evidence that placed him inside Stergis’ car.

Police were unable to classify the murder as a hate crime because Ohio hate crime law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Carroll was also convicted of a drug trafficking charge, reports TransGriot.

“Justice has been served and another murderer of our sisters will be rotting in jail for doing so,” says TransGriot blogger and trans advocate Monica Roberts.

According to the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, only 46 percent of transgender murders are solved.